Buy or Lease

[PJJAnthony]

I've pretty much decided to get Dish Network. Is it better to buy the equipment from a local retailer, like Radio Shack, or go with someone like All American Dish and lease the equipment? What are the pros and cons. I notice that many of these places will give the dish and one receiver free.

 

[chaddux]

I've pretty much decided to get Dish Network. Is it better to buy the equipment from a local retailer, like Radio Shack, or go with someone like All American Dish and lease the equipment? What are the pros and cons. I notice that many of these places will give the dish and one receiver free.

One receiver free? Depending on what equipment you get, you should get a lot more than one receiver free.

Some people prefer to buy and others prefer to lease. I prefer to lease. There is no cost advantage to buying over leasing. You pay the same monthly fees whether you buy or lease. If you lease, they call it a Lease Fee. If you buy, they just change the name to an Additional Receiver Fee. Of course, if you buy it, you have to pay for it. If you lease it when you first sign-up (depending on what receiver you want), you may pay nothing. Plus, when something breaks, if you bought the equipment, then you own the receiver and it is your problem. If you lease it, DISH Network owns the receiver and it is their problem.

 

[navychop]

You still should sub to DHPP even for leased units. You damage a leased car, or it breaks, you fix, not the leasing company.

Call Dish & deal with them directly.

 

[Chris Freeland]

You still should sub to DHPP even for leased units. You damage a leased car, or it breaks, you fix, not the leasing company.

Call Dish & deal with them directly.

DHPP is a rip off, only get this if you have a problem, not before and then cancel afterwords. I have done this my self and got a refurb replacement receiver for an ancient 2000 receiver that I had problems with, the tech CSR's will even tell you that you can do this, no need to waste your money by adding this on a permanent bases, big unnecessary waste of money.

 

[JPointerWI]

DHPP is a rip off, only get this if you have a problem, not before and then cancel afterwords. I have done this my self and got a refurb replacement receiver for an ancient 2000 receiver that I had problems with, the tech CSR's will even tell you that you can do this, no need to waste your money by adding this on a permanent bases, big unnecessary waste of money.

DHPP is free for the forst 18 months with new DHA accounts. after that, you need to cancel it if you dont want to pay the $5/mo.

 

[chaddux]

You still should sub to DHPP even for leased units. You damage a leased car, or it breaks, you fix, not the leasing company.

Actually, that's not right. Usually, when you lease a car, it comes with a warranty that you don't have to pay extra to get. Therefore, if something breaks, you take it to the dealership and they repair it for free. The last vehicle I leased had a three year lease and a three year warranty. I didn't pay a single dime for repairs.

Plus, if your car breaks, you can't threaten to cancel your account. If your receiver breaks, you can simply threaten to cancel your account if they don't replace it.

Like Chris said, $5.99/month is pretty expensive and is a bit of rip-off. Sign-up if you need it. If you don't, save your money.

 

[Chris Freeland]

I was one of the first few thousand E* subs back in 96 and had E* until I moved last year and can no longer get line of site to the E* satellite. I always owned my equipment then because at first leasing was not an option and then latter it was an extra $5/mo, however times have changed and now as long as you have a basic package your monthly expense will be the same weather you lease or buy. The only advantage now for buying all of your equipment is that you have the option to sub to International channels or other 'a la carte' channels or mini-packs without subbing to a basic programing package. Another reason might be if their are parts of the year that you do not need service or you have a temporary financial set back and a need to temporarily cancel your service you will not need to return your equipment. The only other advantage to owning any of your equipment is that if you cancel your service you can sell or give away your equipment instead of having to return it to E*. If or when I return to E* I will want all new equipment at that time and I will lease.

 

[bhelms]

What exactly will DHPP do in a leased situation?

Actually, that's not right. Usually, when you lease a car, it comes with a warranty that you don't have to pay extra to get. Therefore, if something breaks, you take it to the dealership and they repair it for free. The last vehicle I leased had a three year lease and a three year warranty. I didn't pay a single dime for repairs.

....

Like Chris said, $5.99/month is pretty expensive and is a bit of rip-off. Sign-up if you need it. If you don't, save your money.

Brings up the question - What exactly does the DHPP do for you if your equipment is leased? Seems to me that if the warranty is over and the leased equipment breaks down, then E* should still be liable to repair/replace it regardless. (I believe I read in here somewhere that the DHPP will just cover the shipping costs in that case.) If your equipment is damaged or stolen, most likely not covered by either DHPP or the lease, then hopefully your homeowner's insurance would cover a replacement, less your deductable. If something happens to the wiring, LNBs, switches, etc. then the DHPP reduces the service call from $99 (or more?) to $29, I believe. Is all this correct?

So one needs to look at the value of the DHPP very objectively based on his own circumstances. I could probably troubleshoot and repair my own system, and if the leased receiver craps-out I assume I can get E* to replace it for no more than the shipping costs, so the DHPP doesn't sound like a good investment to me, IF my assumptions are correct...

TIA and BRgds...

 

[navychop]

I get mine for $1.99. Grandfathered.

You think E* might wise up one day and check those receivers via sat & phone line to confirm condition before activating DHPP? Or just introduce a one month delay in it kicking in, sorta like happened with flood insurance?